In the production of compressed air for air tools to be used in manufacturing plants and the like, the air is drawn from the atmosphere and compressed by a suitable compressor, such as a reciprocating piston, screw type, sliding vane type, centrifugal type, or axially staged blades. This compressed air, however, contains supersaturated water vapor which condenses upon cooling, which must be removed from the air system. After the removal of the supersaturated water vapor, compressed air is still saturated with water vapor. Thus, with a slight decrease in the temperature of the compressed air, more condensate water is formed, which must be removed from the system. If the water is not removed from the system, there is a tendency for the air passages to become blocked with water. This water can reach the mechanical drive components of the air tools, which prevents their operation. In addition, it is conventional to put lubricators in the air lines to provide the tools with a slight amount of oil mist in the compressed air. However, when the condensed water passes through and collects in the lubricator, an additional problem occurs. That is, since the oil is lighter than water, the oil floats on top of the water and the air tools thus receive water instead of lubricant in the compressed air. This has a very detrimental effect on tools and necessitates very costly repairs.
There are several known prior art devices which seek to avoid the above-enumerated problems. All of these prior art devices accumulate a measured amount of liquid before releasing the accumulated fluid from the compressed air. These devices expel accumulated condensate fluid separated from the compressed air by a float mechanism or by sensitivity to fluid pressure differential which is proportional to the amount of condensate fluid trapped. However, water condensate devices utilizing the aforementioned mechanism are not reliable since the pressure differential mechanisms are subject to clogging and the float mechanisms are subject to seizing. Thus, the aforementioned mechanisms fail to open or, if they open, they fail to close again because of dirt or moisture interfering with the operation of the mechanism.